The Pirate Bay survey is a follow-up to one last year that polled 75,000 users about how they use file-sharing sites as well as how, when and why they use pirated content. It also compared respondents' use of pirated content with their media-buying habits, finding that those who download the most pirated content also tend to be the ones who buy the most content through paid file-sharing services, iTunes, and through other means.

With an alternative base of research and analysis -- which Cybernorms considers to be objective but everyone else will consider pro-piracy due to the connection with ThePirateBay -- legislators and enforcement agencies will have an alternative view of the industry and the Internet from which to work.

Existing research shows heavy handed enforcement of the kind favored by RIAA, MPAA and encoded in the CISPA cybersecurity bill do reduce the amount of illegal file sharing, but have no effect on how people in almost any segment of a society think about it.

"People still don’t think it is wrong to share files," Svensson told TorrentFreak. "What we have is a deterrent effect due to enforcement actions, but an effect that lacks societal support. This is a dangerous development that in the long run risks undermining the trust in the democratic society."